JUST A MINUTE: 60-Second Cinema makes Winchester blink

Those interested in the prospect of winning $25 for just a minute of their time had better act quickly.

Brad Petrishen/Staff Writer

Those interested in the prospect of winning $25 for just a minute of their time had better act quickly.

As of midnight tonight, there will only be five days — or, more appropriately, 7,200 minutes — left until the “Just a Minute” film festival polls close, and voting ends on Tuesday, Dec. 1.

“The response has just been amazing,” said festival creator and WinCAM Board of Directors member Don Daniel. “But we still want as many people voting in the last week as possible.”

Since voting began on Oct. 1, Daniel said the festival’s Web site has been viewed in all 50 U.S states, as well as in 53 countries worldwide — an accomplishment already, for something Daniel had originally anticipated to be more of a local phenomenon.

“When I started this, I was hoping to get 30 films and a few hundred votes,” said Daniel, adding that he is shocked the festival Web site, www.justaminute.tv, has been viewed about 80,000 times since April.

The premise is simple: entrants produced and submitted a one-minute video on any subject, to be voted on over a period of two months, with the highest-ranked video receiving a $100 prize.

“One kid voted 157 times in a row for his own video,” said Daniel, adding that, since that type of “robot-like” voting is barred, those votes had to be discarded.

To sweeten the voting allure for those without a horse in the race, Daniel instituted a system whereby voters who register with the site and vote during any given week are entered into a $25 random drawing for that week.

“There’s no collusion here,” Daniel said when reporting that, interestingly enough, two WinCAM employees have already won a weekly viewer’s prize. “They just watched a whole lot of films.”

Local entries

Those interested in some last minute voting may want to check out films from two local entrants, Adam Dusenberry and Jean Batty.

Dusenberry’s film, “A-Strollin’ Stinky Goes,” was originally intended to be an ode to the recently “deceased” and widely mourned feline, Evander “Stinky” Rucki.

“We [Dusenberry and a friend] spent one morning on the weekend walking though Winchester, much as Evander would, shooting shots of his favorite hang-outs and the idea to portray what we thought his ‘last stroll thought Winchester’ may have been,” said Dusenberry.

However, to Dusenberry’s delight, the function of the film quickly changed with the miraculous news that Stinky was alive and purring.

“Instead of a memorial, it became a tribute to just how special and wonderful [that] animal is.”

Another local film is Winchester resident and Disability Access Committee Chairperson Jean Batty’s “Going to Fenway,” in which Batty protests the insurmountable challenges her family faces when attempting to get to a ball game via commuter rail lines.

“We live literally one house away from an inaccessible train station,” Batty said. “I watch the train go by many, many times a day with handicapped accessible symbols on it, but we cannot get our youngest child on the train,” because of the “handicap inaccessible” platform.

“Even if we push our son’s wheelchair up the ‘goat path’ to the platform, the train actually leans toward the platform because it is going around a curve. So we have to lean backward while we attempt to carry his wheelchair on the train,” she continued. “Given that he weighs more than 50 pounds, it is just too difficult for me. Our family, despite listening to trains all day, every day, is essentially barred from public transportation.”

The film reflects this reality by showing her son, all ready to go to a ball game, waiting on the train platform.

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” said Batty, who added that Winchester’s selectmen and various state politicians, including state Rep. Jason Lewis, are working to alleviate the problem.

“Winchester has permission to make at least one train station [Wedgemere] accessible,” she said. “Now the issue is money.”

However, even if funding for that solution — which is called a “mini-high” — is garnered, she said the Winchester Center station is ineligible for that solution since it is in such disrepair that is has been earmarked for extensive renovations.

Other than the two Winchester stations, Batty said only one other station, West Medford, is currently handicap inaccessible.

Worldwide entries

Daniel said nine of the 50 entries into the festival came from other countries, including Germany, Tunisia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.

“I’ve entered a few machinima and short film festivals,” said Clemens Fobianke of Berlin, Germany. “Some I’ve won, some not.”

Fobianke’s entry, “Men Die As Dogs Die,” is a machinima production, meaning it uses 3-D graphics to create characters that look like those one would find in a video game.

“It’s quite a unique film,” said Daniel.

Trabelsi Marwen, a Tunisian resident, said he discovered the festival by surfing online. His entry, “The Magic Tree,” has a mystical quality as it follows one child’s discovery of a very fast-growing tree.

“I participated in a one-minute film and video festival in Switzerland in 2008 and 2009,” he said. “My film is [inspired by] machinal life — a human is like a robot.”

Commercial success?

Perhaps the highest-profile entrant is Carl Hansen, a Beverly native who is currently producing a number of reality series for networks such as ABC and MTV.

“I’m definitely a Massachusetts boy at heart,” said Hansen, 32, who now works in Los Angeles, Calif. “I’ve known Don [Daniel] for years, and when he mentioned to me he was working on this, I really thought it was a great idea.”

Coming in at a cool 30 seconds, Hansen’s film, “Licking Fingers,” is actually a film he entered in the Doritos Super Bowl Commercial Challenge earlier this year.

“Unfortunately we didn’t fare too well in the contest, but I think it’s pretty funny,” said Hansen.

He said producing a short film is in some ways more challenging because the filmmaker must convey their meaning quickly.

“I think the hardest part when you’re trying to create a story in 30 seconds or a minute … is to really break it down into an image, and understand how that image can convey a thought or emotion,” he said. “You need to squeeze as much information into the shortest amount of time as possible so [that thought] can be communicated effectively.”

Hansen, who co-wrote the film with friend Cristela Alonzo, said it took two hours to film and a week to edit.

“You need to put in all that work in order to get to the finished product,” he said.

Hansen said he is impressed, but not surprised, with the popularity of the “Just a Minute” festival.

“I think there are definitely some unique pieces demonstrated on there — some silly like mine, others dealing with social issues. I would encourage other people to get involved with these types of things,” he said. “People often think they’re not good enough … but it’s free to enter, and they should definitely put their best foot forward and see what happens.”

How to vote

VISIT www.justaminute.tv

CLICK on the “view films” link to view and vote on films.

REGISTER by entering your email address on the voting form that comes up after you view an entry.

Festival fast facts

Created by WinCAM board member Don Daniel this year Contains 50 one-minute or shorter films, with entrants from nine other countries Web site has seen about 80,000 hits since April Record for most hits in an hour is 720